Caching system and method for a workspace environment

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of systems and methods for managing an Information Handling System (IHS) using a workspace orchestration system are described. In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, an IHS may include computer-executable instructions to, instantiate a first workspace comprising a cache database, the first workspace being instantiated with a first interface that is configured to communicate with a second interface configured in a second workspace administered by the workspace orchestration system. The cache database being accessed by the second workspace using the first interface.

FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to Information Handling Systems(IHSs), and, more specifically, to a caching system and method for aworkspace environment.

BACKGROUND

As the value and use of information continue to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option is an Information Handling System (IHS). An IHS generallyprocesses, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data forbusiness, personal, or other purposes. Because technology andinformation handling needs and requirements may vary between differentapplications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allowfor IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user, or for aspecific use such as financial transaction processing, airlinereservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. Inaddition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software componentsthat may be configured to process, store, and communicate informationand may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

IHSs provide users with capabilities for accessing, creating, andmanipulating data. IHSs often implement a variety of security protocolsin order to protect this data during such operations. A known techniquefor securing access to protected data that is accessed via an IHS is tosegregate the protected data within an isolated software environmentthat operates on the IHS, where such isolated software environments maybe referred to by various names, such as virtual machines, containers,dockers, etc. Various types of such segregated environments are isolatedby providing varying degrees of abstraction from the underlying hardwareand from the operating system of the IHS. These virtualized environmentstypically allow a user to access only data and applications that havebeen approved for use within that particular isolated environment. Inenforcing the isolation of a virtualized environment, applications thatoperate within such isolated environments may have limited access tocapabilities that are supported by the hardware and operating system ofthe IHS.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, an Information Handling System (IHS)includes executable computer-executable instructions for instantiating afirst workspace comprising a cache database. The first workspace beinginstantiated with a first interface that is configured to communicatewith a second interface in which the second interface is configured in asecond workspace administered by the workspace orchestration system. Thecache database is accessed by the second workspace using the firstinterface.

According to another embodiment, a method includes the steps ofinstantiating a first workspace that includes a cache database, whereinthe first workspace is instantiated with a first interface that isconfigured to communicate with a second interface. The method furtherincludes the steps of configuring the second interface in a secondworkspace administered by the workspace orchestration system such thatthe cache database is accessed by the second workspace using the firstinterface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention(s) is/are illustrated by way of example and is/arenot limited by the accompanying figures, in which like referencesindicate similar elements. Elements in the figures are illustrated forsimplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating certain components of an IHS operable,according to some embodiments, to support secure use of resources of theIHS by workspaces operating on the IHS.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting illustrative embodiments of methods andsystem for deployment and management of workspaces on an IHS in a mannerthat supports secure use of resources of an IHS by workspaces operatingon the IHS.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a diagram depicting an illustrative systemconfigured according to embodiments for deployment and management ofworkspaces on an IHS in a manner that supports secure use of resourcesof the IHS by workspaces operating on the IHS.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing certain steps of a method, according tosome embodiments, for secure use of resources of an IHS by workspacesoperating on the IHS.

FIG. 5 is a swim lane diagram describing the operation of certaincomponents of a system, according to some embodiments, in configuringsecure use of resources of an IHS by workspaces operating on the IHS.

FIG. 6 is a workflow diagram describing certain steps of one embodimentof a cloud caching method using the cache database according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a workflow diagram describing certain steps of an example usercontext discovery method according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of this disclosure, an IHS may include any instrumentalityor aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, calculate,determine, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate,switch, store, display, communicate, manifest, detect, record,reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, ordata for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example,an IHS may be a personal computer (e.g., desktop or laptop), tabletcomputer, mobile device (e.g., Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or smartphone), server (e.g., blade server or rack server), a network storagedevice, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape,performance, functionality, and price. An example of an IHS is describedin more detail below. FIG. 1 shows various internal components of an IHSconfigured to implement certain of the described embodiments. It shouldbe appreciated that although certain embodiments described herein may bediscussed in the context of a personal computing device, otherembodiments may utilize various other types of IHSs.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting certain components of an illustrative IHS100 that is operable according to various embodiments for secure use ofresources of the IHS 100 by workspaces operating on the IHS 100. In someembodiments, IHS 100 may be employed to instantiate, manage, and/orterminate a secure workspace that may provide the user of IHS 100 withaccess to protected data in an isolated software environment in whichthe protected data is segregated from: the operating system (OS) of theIHS 100, other applications executed by IHS 100, other workspacesoperating on IHS 100 and, to a certain extent, the hardware of the IHS.In some embodiments, the construction of a workspace for a particularpurpose and for use in a particular context may be orchestrated remotelyfrom the IHS 100 by a workspace orchestration service, such as describedwith regard to FIG. 2. In some embodiments, portions of the workspaceorchestration may be performed locally on IHS 100. IHS 100 may beconfigured with program instructions that, upon execution, cause IHS 100to perform one or more of the various operations disclosed herein. Insome embodiments, IHS 100 may be an element of a larger enterprisesystem that may include any number of similarly configured IHSs innetwork communications with each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, IHS 100 includes one or more processors 101, such asa Central Processing Unit (CPU), that execute code retrieved from asystem memory 105. Although IHS 100 is illustrated with a singleprocessor 101, other embodiments may include two or more processors,that may each be configured identically, or that may be configured tosupport specialized processing functions. Processor 101 may include anyprocessor capable of executing program instructions, such as an IntelPentium™ series processor or any general-purpose or embedded processorsimplementing any of a variety of Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs).In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the processor 101 includes an integratedmemory controller 118 that may be implemented directly within thecircuitry of the processor 101, or the memory controller 118 may be aseparate integrated circuit that is located on the same die as theprocessor 101. The memory controller 118 may be configured to manage thetransfer of data to and from the system memory 105 of the IHS 100 via ahigh-speed memory interface 105 b.

System memory 105 that is coupled to processor(s) 101 via memory bus 105b provides processor(s) 101 with a high-speed memory that may be used inthe execution of computer program instructions by processor(s) 101.Accordingly, system memory 105 may include memory components, such assuch as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), NAND Flash memory,suitable for supporting high-speed memory operations by processor(s)101. In some embodiments, system memory 105 may combine both persistent,non-volatile memory and volatile memory. In certain embodiments, systemmemory 105 includes secure storage 120 that may be a portion of thesystem memory designated for storage of information, such as accesspolicies, component signatures, encryption keys, and other cryptographicinformation, for use in hosting a secure workspace on IHS 100. In suchembodiments, a signature may be calculated based on the contents ofsecure storage 120 and stored as a reference signature. The integrity ofthe data stored in secure storage 120 may then be validated at a latertime by recalculating this signature of the contents of the securestorage and comparing the recalculated signature against the referencesignature.

IHS 100 utilizes chipset 103 that may include one or more integratedcircuits that are coupled to processor(s) 101. In the embodiment of FIG.1, processor(s) 101 is depicted as a set of busses that couple processor101 to various hardware components installed in the same motherboard. Insome embodiments, all or portions of chipset 103 may be implementeddirectly within the integrated circuitry of processor(s) 101. Chipset103 thus provides processor(s) 101 with access to a variety of hardwareresources. In IHS 100, chipset 103 is illustrated as a single couplingwith processor 101. However, other implementations may utilize anynumber of connections to provide the illustrated communication pathwayssupported by chipset 103. In some instances, capabilities supported byprocessor 101 are not directly available to workspaces operating on IHS100 due to the isolation of these workspaces from certain hardware andsoftware of the IHS.

In certain embodiments, IHS 100 may include a SPI (Serial PeripheralInterface) flash device 175 that stores certain data and instructionsutilized by processor 101. The SPI flash 175 may be a non-volatilememory device capable of being electrically erased and reprogrammed. SPIflash 175 may be coupled to processor 101 over an SPI bus 180 thatsupports transfers of blocks of data to and from SPI flash 175. In someembodiments, SPI flash 175 may be divided into various regions, witheach region storing different types of instructions and/or data. Incertain embodiments, some of the regions of SPI flash 175 may beprovisioned during trusted manufacture of IHS 100, such as with bootcode, cryptographic keys, firmware reference signatures, and tokens thatare used to implement security protocols utilized by IHS 100.

As illustrated, processor(s) 101 may also be coupled to a networkcontroller 125, such as provided by a Network Interface Controller (NIC)that is coupled to the IHS 100 and allows the IHS 100 to communicatewith other systems, such as other IHSs similarly configured to IHS 100,via an external network, such as the Internet or a LAN. Networkinterface device 109 may provide IHS 100 with wired and/or wirelessnetwork connections via a variety of network technologies, such aswireless cellular or mobile networks (CDMA, TDMA, LTE etc.), WIFI andBLUETOOTH. In some embodiments, network controller 125 may beinstrumented with a controller or other logic unit that supports asideband management connection 185 b with remote access controller 155.In some instances, capabilities supported by network controller 125 arenot directly available to workspaces operating on IHS 100 due to theisolation of these workspaces from certain hardware and software of theIHS.

Chipset 103 may also support communications with one or more displaydevice(s) 115 via graphics processor 170. In certain embodiments,graphics processor 170 may be comprised within one or more video orgraphics cards or an embedded controller installed as components of theIHS 100. Graphics processor 170 may generate display information andprovide the generated information to one or more display device(s) 115coupled to IHS 100, where display device(s) 115 may include integrateddisplay devices and/or external display devices coupled to IHS. Incertain embodiments, some or all of the functions supported by graphicsprocessor 170 may be integrated within processor 101. The one or moredisplay devices 115 coupled to IHS 100 may utilize LCD, LED, OLED, orother thin film display technologies. Each display device may be capableof touch input such as via a touch controller that may be a component ofdisplay device 115, graphics processor 170, or a separate component ofIHS 100 accessed via bus 103. In some instances, capabilities supportedby graphics processor 170 are not directly available to workspacesoperating on IHS 100 due to the isolation of these workspaces fromcertain hardware and software of the IHS.

In certain embodiments, chipset 103 may utilize one or more I/Ocontrollers 150 to access various I/O hardware components such as userinput devices and sensors. For instance, I/O controllers 150 may provideaccess to user-input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad,touchscreen and/or other peripheral input devices. User input devicesmay interface with a I/O controller 150 through wired or wirelessconnections. Sensors accessed via I/O controllers 150 may provide accessto data describing environmental and operating conditions of IHS 100(e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, hinge sensors, rotation sensors, halleffect sensors, temperature sensors, voltage sensors, current sensors,IR sensors, photosensors, proximity sensors, distance sensors, magneticsensors, microphones, ultrasonic sensors, etc.). In some instances,sensor capabilities supported are not directly available to workspacesoperating on IHS 100 due to the isolation of these workspaces fromcertain hardware and software of the IHS.

In some embodiments, the data inputs collected by such sensors may bereceived by sensor hub capable of utilizing this information indetermining various physical characteristics of the location and mannerin which IHS 100 is being utilized. For instance, the sensor hub mayutilize inertial movement sensors, that may include accelerometer,gyroscope, and magnetometer sensors, and are capable of determining thecurrent orientation and movement of IHS 100 (e.g., IHS 100 is motionlesson a relatively flat surface, IHS 100 is being moved irregularly and islikely in transport, the hinge of IHS 100 is oriented in a verticaldirection). In certain embodiments, the sensor hub may also includecapabilities for determining a location and movement of IHS 100 based ontriangulation of network signal and based on network informationprovided by the OS or by a network interface. In some embodiments, thesensor hub may support additional sensors, such as optical, infrared andsonar sensors, that may provide support for xR (virtual, augmented,and/or mixed reality) sessions hosted by the IHS 100 and may be used bythe sensor hub provide an indication of a user's presence near IHS 100,such as whether a user is present, absent, and/or facing the integrateddisplay 115.

Chipset 103 also provides processor(s) 101 with access to one or morestorage devices 130. In various embodiments, a storage device 130 may beintegral to the IHS 100, or may be external to the IHS 100. In certainembodiments, storage device 130 may be accessed via a storage controllerthat may be an integrated component of the storage device. Storagedevice 130 may be implemented using any memory technology allowing IHS100 to store and retrieve data. For instance, storage device 130 may bea magnetic hard disk storage drive or a solid-state storage drive. Insome embodiments, storage device 130 may be a system of storage devices,such as a cloud drive accessible via network controller 125. In someembodiments, storage device 130 may be instrumented with a controller orother logic unit that supports a sideband management connection 185 dwith remote access controller 155. In some instances, data storagecapabilities supported by storage devices 130 are not directly availableto workspaces operating on IHS 100 due to the isolation of theseworkspaces from certain hardware and software of the IHS.

IHS 100 may also include a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) 135component that may include instructions stored in a non-volatile memorythat may be accessible by processor 101. The BIOS 135 provides anabstraction layer that allows an operating system of the IHS 100 tointerface with the hardware components of the IHS 100. Accordingly, BIOS135 provides an abstraction layer to the firmware utilized by varioushardware components of IHS 100. In some embodiments, BIOS 135 may beimplemented using a dedicated microcontroller coupled to the motherboardof IHS 100. In some embodiments, some or all of BIOS 135 may beimplemented as operations of an embedded controller, such remote accesscontroller 155. Upon powering or restarting IHS 100, processor(s) 101may utilize BIOS 135 to initialize and test various hardware componentsof the IHS 100. Upon successful validation of these hardware components,in some embodiments, BIOS 135 may also initiate loading of an operatingsystem for use by the IHS 100. As illustrated, BIOS 135 may beinstrumented with a controller or other logic unit that supports asideband management connection 185 c with remote access controller 155.In certain embodiments, this sideband management connection 185 c may beutilized by remote access controller 155 to identify communicationcapabilities that are supported by IHS 100 and that may be used insupport of secure communications by workspaces operating on IHS 100.

As illustrated, IHS 100 may also include a power supply unit 160 thatprovides the hardware components of IHS 100 with appropriate levels ofDC power. Power inputs received via a power port or via USB ports may berouted to the power supply unit 160 of IHS 100. The power inputsreceived by power supply unit 160 may be used in powering the operationsof IHS 100 and in recharging internal batteries of IHS 100. In someembodiments, power supply unit 160 may support power outputs drawn fromthe internal batteries of IHS 100 and provided to external devicescoupled to IHS 100, such as USB devices coupled to USB ports of IHS 100.In some embodiments, power supply unit 160 may provide power tocomponents of IHS 100 using multiple independent power planes. Forinstance, as described below, remote access controller 155 may bepowered from a separate power plane from processor 101.

As illustrated, IHS 100 includes a remote access controller (RAC) 155that provides capabilities for remote monitoring and management ofvarious aspects of the operation of IHS 100. In support of thesemonitoring and management functions, remote access controller 155 mayutilize both in-band and sideband (i.e., out-of-band) communicationswith various internal components of IHS 100. Remote access controller155 may be installed on the motherboard of IHS 100 or may be coupled toIHS 100 via an expansion slot provided by the motherboard. As anon-limiting example of a remote access controller, the integrated DellRemote Access Controller (iDRAC) from Dell® is embedded within DellPowerEdge™ servers and provides functionality that helps informationtechnology (IT) administrators deploy, update, monitor, and maintainservers remotely.

In some embodiments, remote access controller 155 may operate from adifferent power plane from processors 101, storage devices 130, networkcontroller 125 and various other components of IHS 100, thus allowingthe remote access controller 155 to operate, and management tasks toproceed, while the processing cores of IHS 100 are powered off. In someembodiments, various BIOS functions, including launching the operatingsystem of the IHS 100, may be implemented by the remote accesscontroller 155. In some embodiments, the remote access controller 155may perform various functions to verify the integrity of the IHS 100 andits hardware components prior to initialization of the IHS 100 (i.e., ina bare-metal state).

In some embodiments, remote access controller 155 may support monitoringand administration of various managed devices 101, 120, 125, 130, 135 ofan IHS via a sideband bus interface. For instance, messages utilized indevice management may be transmitted using I2C sideband bus connections185 a-e that may be individually established with each of the respectivemanaged devices 101, 120, 125, 130, 135 through the operation of an I2Cmultiplexer 155 a of the remote access controller. As illustrated,managed devices 125, 130, 135 of IHS 100 are coupled to the IHSprocessor(s) 101 via one or more in-band buses supported by chipset 103,where these in-band busses are separate from the I2C sideband busconnections 185 b-d used for device management. Accordingly, manageddevices 125, 130 and 135 communicate with the operating system of IHS100 via in-band buses supported by chipset 103, while the sideband buses185 b-d are used by managed devices exclusively for communications withremote access controller 155.

In certain embodiments, a service processor 155 d of remote accesscontroller 155 may rely on an I2C co-processor 155 c to implementsideband I2C communications between the remote access controller 155 andmanaged components 101, 120, 125, 130, 135 of the IHS. The co-processor155 c may be a specialized co-processor or micro-controller that isconfigured to interface via a sideband I2C bus interface with themanaged hardware components 101, 120, 125, 130, 135 of IHS. In someembodiments, the I2C co-processor 155 c may be an integrated componentof the service processor 155 d, such as a peripheral system-on-chipfeature that may be provided by the service processor 155 d. Each I2Cbus 185 a-e is illustrated as single line in FIG. 1. However, each I2Cbus 185 a-e may be comprised of a clock line and data line that couplethe remote access controller 155 to I2C endpoints 101, 120, 125, 130,135 on each of the managed components.

As illustrated, the I2C co-processor 155 c may interface with theindividual managed devices 101, 120, 125, 130, 135 via individualsideband I2C buses 185 a-e selected through the operation of an I2Cmultiplexer 155 a. Via switching operations by the I2C multiplexer 155a, a sideband bus connection 185 a-e may be established through a directcoupling between the I2C co-processor 155 c and each of the individualmanaged devices 101, 120, 125, 130, 135. In providing sidebandmanagement capabilities, the I2C co-processor 155 c may interoperatewith corresponding endpoint I2C controllers that implement the I2Ccommunications of the respective managed devices 101, 120, 125, 130,135. The endpoint I2C controllers may be implemented as dedicatedmicrocontrollers for communicating sideband I2C messages with the remoteaccess controller 155, or endpoint I2C controllers may be integrated SoCfunctions of a processor of the respective managed device endpoints 101,120, 125, 130, 135.

In some embodiments, remote access controller 155 may perform variousoperations in support of the delivery and deployment of workspaces toIHS 100. In certain embodiments, remote access controller 155 mayinteroperate with a remote orchestration service via the describedout-of-band communications pathways that are isolated from the operatingsystem that runs on IHS 100. In some embodiments, a network adapter 155b that is distinct from network controller 125 utilized by the operatingsystem of IHS 100 may support such out-of-band communications betweenremote access controller 155 and a remote orchestration service. Viathis out-of-band signaling pathway, remote access controller 155 mayreceive authorization information that may be used for secure deliveryand deployment of a workspace to IHS 100 and to support securecommunication channels between deployed workspaces and variouscapabilities supported by IHS 100, while still maintaining isolation ofthe workspaces from the hardware and operating system of IHs 100.

In some embodiments, authorization and cryptographic informationreceived by remote access controller 155 from a remote orchestrationservice may be stored to secured memory 120. As illustrated in FIG. 1,in some embodiments, remote access controller 155 may access securedmemory 120 may via an I2C sideband signaling pathway 185 a between I2Cmultiplexer 155 a and an I2C communication capability supported bysecure memory 120. Remote access controller 155 may support execution ofa trusted operating environment that supports secure operations that areused to deploy a workspace on IHS 100. In certain embodiments, remoteaccess controller 155 may calculate signatures that uniquely identifyvarious hardware and software components of IHS 100. For instance,remote access controller 155 may calculate hash values based oninstructions and other information used to configure and operatehardware and/or software components of IHS 100. For instance, remoteaccess controller 155 may calculate a hash value based on firmware andon other instructions or settings of a component of a hardwarecomponent. In some embodiments, hash values may be calculated in thismanner as part of a trusted manufacturing process of IHS 100 and may bestored in the secure storage 120 as reference signatures used tovalidate the integrity of these components at a later time. In certainembodiments, a remote orchestration service supporting the deployment ofworkspaces to IHS 100 may verify the integrity of the remote accesscontroller 155 in a similar manner, by calculating a signature of remoteaccess controller 155 and comparing it to a reference signaturecalculated during a trusted process for manufacture of IHS 100.

In some embodiments, an IHS 100 may not include all of the componentsshown in FIG. 1. In other embodiments, an IHS 100 may include othercomponents in addition to those that are shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore,some components that are represented as separate components in FIG. 1may instead be integrated with other components. For example, in certainembodiments, all or a portion of the operations executed by theillustrated components may instead be provided by components integratedinto processor(s) 101 as systems-on-a-chip.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting illustrative embodiments of methods andsystem for deployment and management of workspaces on an IHS in a mannerthat supports secure use of resources of an IHS by workspaces operatingon the IHS. For sake of explanation, the workspace lifecycle supportedby embodiments has been split into three phases: workspaceinitialization phase 200A, workspace orchestration phase 200B, andworkspace termination phase 200C. During initialization 200A, user 201operates an IHS 100, such as described with regard to FIG. 1, within aphysical environment 202 (e.g., any type of environment and itsassociated context, including physical location, geographic location,location within a particular facility or building, detected networks,time of day, proximity of the user, individuals in the vicinity of IHS100, etc.).

The illustrated method for the workspace lifecycle according toembodiments may be initiated with an action by user 201 at a userinterface that serves as a launch point 203 for initiating a workspace.In various instances, launch point 203 may be a corporate launch pointprovided by an employer of user 201, a manufacturer launch pointprovided by the manufacturer of IHS 100, or a third-party launch pointprovided as a service to user 201 by a third-party. In variousinstances, user 201 may operate IHS 100 to access a launch point 203that is provided in the form of a web portal, a portal applicationrunning in the operating system of IHS 100, or a special-purpose portalworkspace operating on IHS 100. In various embodiments, launch point 203may be implemented using graphical, textual and/or audio interfaces bywhich data or other resource may be requested by a user 201. In variousimplementations, launch point 203 may include Graphical User Interface(GUI) elements, such as icons, that represent different softwareapplications, data sources and/or other resources that the user mayselect for use via a workspace. As such, launch point 203 may provide auser with an ability to request initiation of a workspace that processaccess to software applications and data sources that are available tothe user 201.

As described in additional detail below, workspaces for providing user201 with access to protected data or other resources may operate using alocal management agent 332 that operates on IHS 100 and is configured tointeroperate with workspace orchestration service 206. As described,launch point 203 may be provided in the form of a portal (e.g., awebpage, OS application or special purpose workspace) that includes auser interface that allows user 201 to request access to managedresources. In some embodiments, launch point 203 may be hosted by thelocal management agent 332 that runs on IHS 100 and interoperates withremote workspace orchestration service 206. Examples of launch point 203technologies may include WORKSPACE ONE INTELLIGENT HUB from WMWARE,INC., and DELL HYBRID CLIENT from DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC., among others.

Initialization phase 200A begins when user 201 chooses to launch anapplication or access a data source that is managed by the workspaceorchestration service 206. In response to an access request issued byuser 201 (e.g., the user “clicks” on an icon presented by launch point203), at 204, local management agent 332 of IHS 100 collects initialsecurity context information and productivity context information. Invarious embodiments, the security context information of a workspace mayinclude attributes indicating a security risk associated with: the dataand/or application being requested, a level of risk presented by theuser 201, the hardware of the IHS 100, the logical software environmentof IHS 100 in which a workspace will be deployed, and the physicalenvironment 202 in which IHS 100 is currently located. Accordingly, inthis disclosure, a “security context” generally refers to data or otherinformation related to a security posture in which a workspace will bedeployed and utilized, where the security posture may be based oncharacteristics of user 201, IHS 100, the data and/or application to beaccessed via the workspace, and/or environment 202. In some embodiments,a security context may be quantified as a security risk score in supportof evaluations of the level or risk associated with providing user 201access to requested data and/or application while using IHS 100 in theparticular context.

In various embodiments, security metrics that may be used in thecalculation of a security risk score for a particular security contextmay include, but are not limited to: a classification of the requesteddata source and/or application, authentication factors used to identifyuser 201, the location of IHS 100, a role or other group classificationsassociated with user 201, validation of networks in use by IHS 100, typeof network in use by IHS 100, network firewall configurations in use byIHS 100, indicators of attack (IoA), indicators of compromise (IoC)regarding IHS 100 or a resource being requested by user 201, patchlevels associated with the operating system and other applications inuse on IHS 100, availability of encryption, type of availableencryption, access to secured storage, use of attestable hardware by IHS100, and supported degree of workspace isolation by IHS 100.

In this disclosure, “productivity context” generally refers to user 201productivity associated with a workspace, user 201, IHS 100, and/orenvironment 202. A “productivity score” generally refers to an indexusable to score, quantify, or measure various productivitycharacteristics of a productivity context. Examples of productivitycontext information may include, but are not limited to: the hardware ofthe IHS 100 that is available for use in support of a workspace, thesoftware of the IHS 100 that is available for use in support of theworkspace, power states of IHS 100 and/or hardware components of IHS100, maximum clock frequencies of hardware components of IHS 100 thatcan currently be supported, maximum operating speeds of softwarecomponents of IHS 100, peripheral devices coupled to IHS 100 andnetworks available for use by IHS 100 in supporting the workspace.

Initial productivity and security targets for a workspace may becalculated, at 205, based on the context of user's 201 actions combinedwith the productivity and security context in which the workspace willoperate. In some cases, at 205, a local management agent 332 operatingon IHS 100 may calculate initial security and productivity targets basedupon the collected security and productivity context. In other cases,remote workspace orchestration service 206 may calculate security andproductivity targets for a workspace. In this disclosure, “securitytarget” generally refers to the attack surface presented by a workspacethat is created and operated based on a specific workspace definition,while “productivity target” generally refers to the productivitycharacteristics of a specific workspace definition. Examples of aproductivity target characteristics include, but are not limited to:types of data or data sources available to user 201 within a workspace,latency of the workspace, software applications available within theworkspace, responsiveness of the workspace and remaining computationaloverhead available to the workspace. Attributes that may be used tocharacterize a security target may include, but are not limited to: aminimum security score for a workspace, a minimum trust score of IHS100, authentication requirements for user 201 (e.g., how manyauthentication factors are required, frequency of re-authentication),minimum level of trust in the network utilized by a workspace, requiredisolation of a workspace from IHS 100, the ability to access browserwithin a workspace, the ability to transfer data between workspaces andthe ability to extend a workspace. In some instances, productivity andsecurity targets may also be based on user's 201 behavioral analytics,IHS 100 telemetry and/or environmental information that is collected viasensors of IHS 100.

In this disclosure, “workspace definition” generally refers to acollection of attributes that describe aspects a workspace that isassembled, initialized, deployed and operated in a manner that satisfiesa security target (e.g., the definition presents an attack surface thatpresents an acceptable level of risk) and a productivity target (e.g.,the definition provides a requisite level of access to data andapplications with an upper limit on latency of the workspace) in lightof the security context (e.g., location, patch level, threatinformation, network connectivity, etc.) and the productivity context(e.g., performance characteristics of the IHS 100, network speed,workspace responsiveness and latency) in which the workspace is to bedeployed. A workspace definition may enable fluidity of migration of aninstantiated workspace, since the definition supports the ability for aworkspace to be assembled on any IHS 100 that is configured foroperation with the workspace orchestration service 206.

In specifying capabilities and constraints of a workspace, a workspacedefinition 208 may prescribe one or more of: authentication requirementsfor user 201, types of containment and/or isolation of the workspace(e.g., local application, sandbox, docker container, progressive webapplication (PWA), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)), applicationsthat can be executed in the defined containment of the workspace withaccess to one or more data sources, security components that reduce thescope of the security target presented by the productivity environment(e.g., DELL DATA GUARDIAN from DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC., anti-virussoftware), the data sources to be accessed and requirements for routingthat data to and from the workspace containment (e.g., use of VPN,minimum encryption strength), and workspace capabilities available toindependently attach other resources.

In some implementations, workspace definitions may be based at least inpart on static policies or rules defined, for example, by anenterprise's Information Technology (IT) personnel. In someimplementations, static rules may be combined and improved upon bymachine learning (ML) and/or artificial intelligence (AI) algorithmsthat evaluate historical productivity and security data collected asworkspaces are life cycled. In this manner, rules may be dynamicallymodified over time to generate improved workspace definitions. If it isdetermined, for instance, that a user dynamically adds a text editorevery time he uses MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO from MICROSOFT CORPORATION,then workspace orchestration service 206 may autonomously add thatapplication to the default workspace definition for that user.

Still with respect to FIG. 2, during an orchestration phase 200B ofworkspace deployment, at 208, the initial security and productivitytargets are processed and/or reconciled against resources, IHScapabilities, and cloud services capabilities in order to produce aworkspace definition. As described, a workspace definition may specifycapabilities and constraints of a workspace, such as: runtime securityrequirements of the workspace containment (e.g., such as isolation fromthe OS of IHS 100 or from certain hardware of IHS 100), the use ofreference measurements to attest to the integrity of the workspace,applications to be provided for operation within the workspace,aggregation of resources available via the workspace, configurations foraccessing data or resources (e.g., required use of a virtual privatenetwork (VPN)).

As described in additional detail with regard to FIG. 3, the initialworkspace definition may then be utilized by an automation engine 302 ofworkspace orchestration service 206 to coordinate the assembly 209 andinstantiation 210 of a workspace on an appropriate platform (e.g., onthe cloud, on IHS 201, or some combination of the two) based on thesecurity and productivity contexts in which the workspace will operate.In some embodiments, automation engine 302 may resolve configurationconflicts between a workspace definition and the user's inputs in theoperation of a workspace. In cases where a workspace is cloud-hosted,the automation engine 302 may assemble and instantiate a remoteworkspace that may be accessed via a secure connection established via aweb browser or other web-based component operating on the IHS 100.

At 211 of FIG. 2, the instantiated workspace is operated by user 201 andnew productivity and security context information related to thebehavior or use of data is generated at 212. This operation of aworkspace may result in a change or new classification of data basedupon what user 201 has done, accessed, and/or created, thus resulting ina change to the security context of the workspace. To the extent theuser's behavioral analytics, device telemetry, and/or the environmenthas changed to a quantifiable degree, these changes in security contextmay serve as additional input for a reevaluation, at 207, of thesecurity and performance targets by automation engine 302. Additionallyor alternatively, a new workspace context, security target, and/orproductivity target may be now measured against the initial targets, andthe result may cause automation engine 302 to produce a new workspacedefinition at 208.

Particularly, if the instantiated workspace(s) have security orproductivity parameters that fall outside of a range of the targetscores for these parameters such that a difference between an updatedcontext information and the previous context information is scored belowa threshold value, automation engine 302 may generate modifications toan existing workspace and, at 210, may deploy an updated workspaceaccording to the modified definition. Conversely, if the differencebetween an updated context information and the previous contextinformation is scored above a threshold value, automation engine 302 maygenerate a new workspace at 210. Session data metadata and context maybe preserved by data aggregation engine 336, and session data may berestored in the new workspace as applicable.

Various conditions may trigger termination of a workspace at 213, aspart of termination phase 200C. In some cases, user action may initiatethe termination of a workspace (e.g., user 201 closes application orbrowser accessing data). In other cases, termination of a workspace maytake place automatically as part of an adjustment in workspacedefinition (e.g., the workspace is terminated by automation engine 302in order to support a new or updated workspace). As part of atermination phase 200C of a workspace, various workspace resources ofIHS 100 and/or at workspace orchestration service 206 may be released.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams depicting illustrative embodiments of asystem for deployment and management of workspaces on an IHS 300B in amanner that supports secure use of resources of the IHS by workspacesoperating on the IHS. The illustrated system includes a workspaceorchestration service 206 that performs various workspace orchestrationoperations described above, such as: the evaluation of security andproductivity targets based upon context information, the calculation ofrisk scores and other productivity and security metrics based on ongoingcollection of context information, the generation of workspacedefinitions, and the assembly and instantiation of workspaces inaccordance with a workspace definition, where the workspaces may beinstantiated via a cloud service or an IHS 100, such as described withregard to FIG. 1 and further described with regard to FIG. 3B. Asdescribed, IHS 100 may supported deployment and operation of workspacesthrough the collection of productivity and security context information,the calculation of productivity scores and/or risk scores, theinstantiation, execution, and modification of a workspace based uponworkspace definitions that are received from workspace orchestrationservice 206.

Workspace orchestration service 206 and IHS 100 may be coupled to eachother via any suitable network technology and/or protocol which allowsworkspace orchestration service 206 to interoperate with IHS 100. Asdescribed with regard to FIG. 1, an IHS 100 according to embodiments mayinclude a component such as a remote access controller 155 that maysupport secure out-of-band communications that are independent from theoperating system of IHS 100. In some embodiments, such a remote accesscontroller may be configured to utilize such out-of-band communicationcapabilities to support deployment and operation of workspaces on IHS100 and to report changes in context information to the workspaceorchestration service 206.

As illustrated in FIG. 3A, workspace orchestration service 206 mayinclude a number of sub-components that support deployment and ongoingevaluation and adaptation of workspaces on an IHS 100. Embodiments ofthe workspace orchestration service 206 may include systems that maysupport web services 306, manufacturer integration 317, and analytics323. As illustrated, web services 306 may, in turn, comprise applicationservices 301 and user interface (UI) and automation services 302. Insome embodiments, analytics services 323 may be configured to receiveand process context information from IHS 100, both during initialconfiguration of a workspace and in ongoing support of workspaces, andto provide that information, along with any analytics generated, tocontext logic 303 of application services 301. Based on informationcollected during the deployment and ongoing support of workspaces,support assistance intelligence engine (SAIE) 324 may be configured togenerate and/or analyze technical support information (e.g., updates,errors, support logs, etc.) for use in diagnosing and repairingworkspace issues. Workspace insights and telemetry engine 325 may beconfigured to analyze and/or produce device-centric, historical, andbehavior-based data (e.g., hardware measurements, performancemeasurements, use of features, settings, etc.) resulting from theoperation of workspaces. Workspace intelligence 326 may include anintelligence engine for processing and evaluating context data in orderto identify patterns and tendencies in the operation of workspaces andin the adaptation of workspaces based on context changes.

As illustrated, an application services 306 system of the workspaceorchestration service 206 may include a UI and automation services 302system that may include context logic engine 303, classification policylogic 304, and condition control engine 305. Context logic engine 303may support processing of context information in making risk assessments(e.g., evaluating the risk associated with requests by the user againstthe context of the user's behavior, history of the use of IHS 100,capabilities of IHS 100, and environmental conditions). For instance,security context information collected by IHS 100 may be provided toworkspace orchestration service 206 where it may be used by contextlogic 303 to calculate a risk score associated with a request for use ofa managed data source and/or application. Classification policy 304 mayinclude administrator and machine-learning defined policies describingrisk classifications associated with different security contexts, suchas risk classifications associated with specific data, locations,physical environments, IHSs, logical environments, and user actions(e.g., use of high-risk data requires use of a workspace definitionsuitable for use with a risk score above a specific value). Conditioncontrol engine 305 may include intelligence providing automated decisionmaking for alignment of risk and context. In some cases, conditioncontrol engine 305 may dynamically deploy a solution to address anydetected misalignment of risk and context. For instance, upon requestingaccess to a highly classified data source that results in a significantincrease in risk score, the condition control engine may selectworkspace definition modifications that implement security proceduresthat are suitable for the higher risk score.

Application services 301 may include a group of web services 306 calledon by UI and automation services 302 to support various aspects of theorchestration of workspaces. Particularly, web services 306 may includeapplication and workspace services 307 that may assemble and packageapplications for deployment in a workspace (e.g., an “.msix” filepackaged and deployed to a MICROSOFT HYPER-V container). In someembodiments, a workspace definition may be used to specify various suchtypes of workspace deployments that will be used to provide a user withaccess to an application. Web services 306 may also include a tenantsubscription module 308, that performs dynamic configuration of an IHS100 for use with the described workspace orchestration services 206 atthe point-of-sale (POS) of the IHS. A license tracking module 309 may beused to maintain and track license information for software, services,and IHSs. An access control module 310 may provide top level accesscontrols used in controlling access to data and applications byauthorized users. A Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) module 311 may beconfigured to support the described orchestration of workspaces onvarious different IHSs that may be utilized by a particular user.

Web services 306 that may be used in support of workspaces deployed onIHS 100 may further include resource provisioning services 312 forconfiguring IHS 100 or a workspace with secrets/credentials necessary toaccess specific resources (e.g., credentials for use of VPNs, networks,data storage repositories, workspace encryption, workspace attestation,and workspace-to-device anchoring). In some cases, resource provisioningservices 312 may include secrets provisioned to IHS 100, such as tosecure memory 120, as part of a trusted assembly process of IHS 100 and,in some instances, associated with a unique identifier 348 of the IHS100. Web services 306 may also include an authorization/token module 313that provides identity functions and may connect to variousauthentication sources, such as Active Directory. Endpoint registrationmodule 314 may be configured to register IHSs and/or workspaces in orderto track the use of the described workspace orchestration. In somescenarios, a directory services 315 module may be configured to provideactive directory services (e.g., AZURE ACTIVE DIRECTORY from MICROSOFTCORPORATION). Device configuration services 316 may enable centralconfiguration, monitoring, managing, and optimization of workspaces thatin certain contexts may operate remotely from an IHS and may onlypresent the user of the IHS with a user interface that presents an imageof the workspace output. In cooperation with resource provisioningservices 312, device configuration services 316 may also handle creationof secrets and IHS configuration.

Still referring to FIG. 3A, manufacturer integration components 317communicate with application services 301 and client IHS 100 to providefeatures that are usable during workspace evaluation and instantiation,where these features may be based upon information available to themanufacturer of IHS 100. For instance, certificate authority 318 mayinclude an entity that issues digital certificates that may be used invalidating the authenticity and integrity of the hardware of IHS 100.Identity service module or engine 319 may be configured to manage theuser identities, as well as brokering user identification for use ofcustomer directory 322. Order entitlement engine 320 may be used tomanage purchased entitlements as well as the associated issuedcertificates signed by 318. Ownership repository 321 may manage userentitlements associated with IHSs and their ownership and may providesupport for users transferring ownership of an IHS and conveying theentitlements associated with that IHS. In certain scenarios, ownershiprepository 321 may use this transfer of ownership to decommission thesecrets associated with the entitlements embedded in the IHS. Customerdirectory 322 may be configured to authenticate and authorize all usersand IHSs in a network, such as assigning and enforcing security policiesfor all IHSs and installing or updating software (in some cases,customer directory 322 may work in cooperation and/or may be the same asdirectory services 315).

Referring now to IHS 100 of FIG. 3B, in some embodiments, IHS 100 may beconfigured to operate a local management agent 332 that may operate as atrusted and attestable process of IHS 100 and that may operateindependent from the operating system 360 of IHS 100. In someembodiments, local management agent 332 may include a workspace enginethat instantiates and manages the operation of one or more workspaces331A-N on IHS 100. As described, the capabilities of a workspace 331A-Nmay be modified based on detected changes in the productivity andsecurity contexts in which the workspace is operating. Accordingly, theworkload(s) in each of the workspaces 331A-N may be hosted in full or inpart by a cloud resource, a specific server, or locally hosted on IHS100, depending on the context in which the workspace is operating. Theseallocations of workspace computing for each particular workspace 331A-Nmay be prescribed by the workspace definition that is used to build andoperate each workspace. As described, the workspace definition may becreated by workspace orchestration service 206 based upon: contextinformation provided by IHS 100, security targets for each workspace331A-N, and/or productivity targets for each workspace 331A-N. Asdescribed in additional detail below, an individual workspace 331A-N maybe provided with use of local resources of IHS 100 via a securecommunication mechanism supported by workspace orchestration service 206and remote access controller 341 of IHS 100. Utilizing the providedembodiments, such use of local resources by workspaces 331A-N may beadapted in response to detected changes in the security context of IHS100.

In some embodiments, local management agent 332 may be configured tohost, launch, and/or execute a workspace hub 327 that provides a launchpoint 203 by which users may initiate workspaces 331A-N through theselection of managed data and/or resources. As described, launch point203 may be an agent, application, special-purpose workspace or webportal the provides a user interface by which a user may select from acollection of data sources, applications or other managed information orresources that are available to the user of IHS 100 via the operation ofa workspace as described herein. In various embodiments, launch point203 may be provided in the form for textual, graphical and/or audio userinterfaces that allow a user of IHS 100 to select available data and/orresources. Workspace hub 327 may utilize a local environment managementmodule in providing the workspace interface that is presented to theuser on IHS 100 in a consistent manner across workspaces 331A-N.

In some embodiments, each instantiated workspace 331A-N may be a logicalsoftware environment that provides a user with access to requested dataor applications, where the environment may be isolated in varyingdegrees from the hardware and software of IHS 100 based on the securitycontext and productivity context in which each workspace 331A-N isoperating. In some instances, the selection of a data source or resourcethat is available to user via launch point 203 may result in launching anew workspace 331A-N. For instance, if a user launches a browser throughselection of an icon displayed by launch point 203, a new workspace maybe created and launched according to a workspace definition that hasbeen selected for providing the user access to a web browser in thesecurity and productivity contexts in which the request has been made.In a scenario where the user selects a confidential presentation fileavailable from a data source that is provided by launch point 203, anadditional workspace 331A-N may be instantiated with use of apresentation application and with access to the requested presentationfile, where this new workspace is created based on a workspacedefinition that provides appropriate security for access to theconfidential presentation. In other instances, a selection of thepresentation file by a user may result in the presentation being madeavailable through the existing workspace, in some cases using theexisting workspace definition and, in other cases, using a workspacedefinition that has been modified to support the requested access to theconfidential presentation file.

In various embodiments, in order to execute the various operationsdescribed herein, local management agent 332 may include a commandmonitor that provides instrumentation to receive commands from workspaceorchestration service 206 in support of adaptation of workspaces 331A-Nbased on detected changes in context. Local management agent 332 mayinclude a telemetry module that may collect and communicate informationto the workspace orchestration service 206, including reporting changesin context that may warrant adjustments to workspaces 331A-N. Localmanagement agent 332 may also utilize a resource manager module that isconfigured to manage access to data, network configuration, such as forVPNs and network access, identity information, access control, andresource provisioning services. A security module of local managementagent 332 may be configured to provide various security services. IHS100 may include an IHS identification module 348 that provides a unique,unspoofable identifier that is cryptographically bound to IHS 100.

As illustrated in FIG. 3B, IHS 100 includes a remote access controller341 that provides capabilities for remote management of IHS 100 and thatprovides out-of-band management of various hardware components of IHS100. As indicated in FIG. 3B, the remote access controller 341 operatesindependently from the operating system 360 in providing remotemanagement of IHS 100. A selected portion of the capabilities of aremote access controller 341 are illustrated in FIG. 3B. As describedwith regard to FIG. 1, a remote access controller 341 may include a rootof trust 342 capability that is used to evaluate firmware instructionsto be used by various hardware components of IHS 100 against referencesignatures for these components, thus validating the firmware in use bythese components. In some embodiments, workspace operations supported byworkspace orchestration service 206 may require such root of trustvalidations by remote access controller 341 prior to initiatingdeployment of workspaces to IHS 100. In some embodiments, remote accesscontroller 341 may include a secure object store 344 for use in storingreference signatures used by root of trust 342 module. As described withregard to FIG. 1, reference signatures utilized by root of trust 342module may alternatively or additionally be stored in a secure memory ofIHS 100. In some embodiments, an IHS attestation 343 module of remoteaccess controller 341 may interface with workspace orchestration service205 in providing confirmations of root of trust validations of thehardware components of IHS 100.

In some embodiments, remote access controller 341 may also include asecure communications support module 350 that may be used to facilitatesecure communications with workspaces 331A-N in providing theseworkspaces with access to local resources of IHS 100 that have beenregistered for use in this manner with workspace orchestration service206. As described in additional detail below, configuration of a localresource for use by a workspace 331A-N may include workspaceorchestration service 206 providing remote access controller 341 with ahandle for use in interfacing with an individual workspace 331A-N inproviding the workspace with a selected local resource of IHS 100. Asdescribed, an IHS may concurrently support multiple different workspaces331A-N, each operating according to a separate workspace definition.Each workspace 331A-N may utilize multiple local resources of IHS 100.Each instance of a workspace utilizing a local resource of IHS 100 maybe supported by a separate handle that supports secure communicationsbetween a workspace and the remote access controller 341. In turn, eachhandle may include a token and may specify various conditions for thevalidity of the token, such as a time limit on the validity of a token.The secure communications support module 350 of the remote accesscontroller 341 may manage the various handles in use at any one time inproviding workspaces 331A-N with access to local resources of the IHS.In some embodiments, secure communications support module 350 may beconfigured to evaluate the conditions provided in each handle for thevalidity of the handle's token in order to determine whether to continueproviding a workspace with access to the local resource specified by thehandle.

As illustrated, each workspace 331A-N may include a local resourceservice 335A-N that configures use of available resources of the IHS bya respective workspace. As described in additional detail below, a localresource service 355A-N may interoperate with workspace orchestrationservice 206 in order to configure a respective workspace 331A-N for useof resources of the IHS 100 that have been registered with the workspaceorchestration service 206 as being available for use by workspaces331A-N. In some instances, such resource of IHS 100 that are availablefor use by workspaces 331A-N may be identified for workspaceorchestration service 206 by remote access controller 341 viaout-of-band signaling pathways that are independent from operatingsystem 360 of IHS 100, such as described with regard to FIG. 1. Once alocal resource service 355A-N has negotiated use of available IHSresources, workspace orchestration service 206 may provide a respectivelocal resource service 355A-N with a handle that supports a secure meansfor accessing a local resource of IHS 100, as supported by a remoteaccess controller 341 of the IHS 100.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing certain steps of a method, according tosome embodiments, for secure use of resources of an IHS by workspacesoperating on the IHS. FIG. 5 is a swim lane diagram describing theoperation of certain components of a system according to someembodiments, in configuring secure use of resources of an IHS byworkspaces operating on the IHS. As illustrated in FIG. 5, embodimentsmay begin with the initialization of an IHS that is configured accordingto the embodiments described above. As described, in some embodiments,initialization procedures of an IHS may include validation ofinstructions utilized by various hardware components of the IHS. Forinstance, firmware instructions to be loaded by a remote accesscontroller 410 of the IHS may be used to generate a hash value that iscompared to a digital signature stored in a secure memory of the IHS,where the digital signature corresponds to authentic firmwareinstructions stored for use by the remote access controller during atrusted manufacturing process of the IHS, or during another trustedadministrative process. In this same manner, the firmware instructionsutilized by various hardware components of the IHS may be successivelyvalidated against stored reference signatures in order to iterativelyexpand a root of trusted hardware components of the IHS. In someembodiments, the firmware instructions of the remote access controller410 that are validated in this manner may include instructions used bythe remote access controller to determine resources of the IHS that maybe utilized by workspaces operating on the IHS and to transmit suchlocal resource information to a remote workspace orchestration service420.

As indicated at 425 in FIG. 4 and at 510 of FIG. 5, once theinstructions utilized by the remote access controller 410 have beenvalidated, the remote access controller may utilize these instructionsto communicate with a remote workspace orchestration service 420 inregistering for secure use of IHS resources by workspaces operating onthe IHS. In some embodiments, the validated firmware instructionsutilized by the remote access controller 410 may include instructionsfor securely determining resources of the IHS that may be used byworkspaces operating on the IHS and for transmitting a registration ofthese available IHS resources to the workspace orchestration service420. In such instances, the remote access controller 410 thus utilizesvalidated instructions for configuring operation with workspaces and incommunicating with the workspace orchestration service 420, where theseinstructions are provided during a trusted process for manufacture of anIHS, or during a trusted administrative process.

At 515 of FIG. 5, the remote access controller 410 provides theworkspace orchestration service 420 with a listing of IHS resources thatare available for use by workspaces 405 operating on the IHS. Asdescribed, such list of available resources may include capabilitiessupported by hardware or software components of the IHS, but are notaccessible to workspaces 405 due to their isolation from the underlyinghardware and software of the IHS. For instance, available resources mayinclude ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) capabilitiesfor querying and configuring power management settings of an IHS. Insome instances, available resources may include WMI (Windows ManagementInstrumentation) capabilities for management of IHSs that operate usinga Windows operating system. In some instances, available resources mayinclude use of thread management, memory management or networkcontroller functions that are not accessible by workspaces 405 due tovirtualization of the hardware of the IHS. In some embodiments,available resources may support functions that consolidate services inuse by different workspaces 405 operating on the IHS, such asconsolidation of authentication capabilities in use by the workspaces orconsolidation of VPN capabilities. Through the use of such consolidatedfunctions, workspaces 405 may avoid duplicative operations and may alsoavoid possible inconsistencies that may result from each workspace 405utilizing a resource of the IHS in isolation from each other.

As indicated at 520 of FIG. 5 and at 430 of FIG. 4, in response toreceiving a list of available IHS resources, the workspace orchestrationservice 420 transmits an authorization token to the remote accesscontroller 410. This authorization token may be used to establish securecommunications between a workspace and the remote access controller 410in providing the workspace with access to the available resources of theIHS. In some embodiments, the authorization token provided to the remoteaccess controller 410 may be calculated based on a unique identifier ofthe IHS, such as an identifier provided by an IHS identification 348function of IHS, where this unique identifier may be a service tag orother unique code assigned to IHS upon its manufacture. By generatingthe authorization token based on a unique identifier of IHS, the tokenis thus bound to that particular IHS such that any attempts to utilizethe token by other IHSs are detectable.

In some instances, the identification of available resources by theremote access controller 410 and the receipt of an authorization tokenfrom the workspace orchestration service 420 is completed uponinitialization of the remote access controller 410 and prior to the usercommencing actual use of the IHS. Once the IHS has been initialized andis in use, at 525, a workspace may be initialized or reinitialized. Insome instances, a workspace may be initialized in response to a userrequesting access to a protected resource via a launch point operatingon the IHS, such as described with regard to FIG. 2. As described withregard to FIGS. 3A and 3B, an IHS supporting the use of workspaces mayoperate using a workspace management agent, represented as 415 in FIG.4, that is used to deploy and manage workspaces operating on the IHS.

In response to a user initiating a request for use of a protectedresource through operation of a workspace, at 435, the workspacemanagement agent 415 transmits a request for a workspace for use of theprotected resource to the workspace orchestration service 420. At 440,the workspace orchestration service 420 generates a workspace definitionfor generating and operating a workspace that provides the user withaccess to the protected resource. As described above, a workspacedefinition may be selected based on factors such as the security contextand productivity context of the IHS that will host the workspace, theuser making the request and/or the logical and physical environment inwhich the workspace will operate. Various types of context informationmay be provided to the workspace orchestration service 420 as part ofthe request from the workspace management agent 415. Additional contextinformation may be collected by the workspace orchestration service 420from the remote access controller 410. Based on evaluation of thecontext information, at 445, the workspace orchestration service 420transmits the workspace definition and other data for generating aworkspace to the workspace management agent 415.

Using the received workspace definition, at 448, the workspacemanagement agent 415 instantiates and deploys the workspace 405 thatwill provide the user with access to the protected resource. With theworkspace 410 deployed and in use, at 450 of FIG. 4 and at 530 of FIG.5, the workspace 410 registers a request for use of available IHSresources with the workspace orchestration service 420. As describedwith regard to FIG. 3B, each workspace 331A-N that is configured anddeployed according to embodiments may include a local resource service335A-N that is configured to provide a respective workspace with accessto local resources of the IHS that are otherwise unavailable due to theisolation of the workspace from all or part of the hardware and softwareof the IHS. As described, a workspace may provide access to a protectedresource within a virtualized logical environment that relies onabstractions from the underlying hardware and the operating system of anIHS, thus isolating the workspace from these local resources of the IHS.

Upon receipt of a registration request from workspace 405, at 455, theworkspace orchestration service 420 responds by providing workspace 405with a list of the available resources of the IHS that are available foruse by workspaces, as specified, at 425, by the remote access controller410. As indicated in FIG. 5, at 535, the workspace orchestration service420 may validate the registration request received from workspace 405.In some embodiments, the workspace 405 may include a unique identifierin its registration request transmitted to the workspace orchestrationservice 420. In such instances, this unique identifier presented by theworkspace 405 is an identifier that was included in the workspacedefinition that was generated by the workspace orchestration service 420and used to deploy the workspace 405. By presenting this uniqueidentifier in its registration request, the workspace orchestrationservice 420 may validate that the request originates from an authenticworkspace that is operating using a workspace definition generated bythe workspace orchestration service 420. Once the workspace 405 has beenvalidated, at 540 and at 455, the workspace orchestration service 420provides the workspace 405 with an authorization token for use inauthenticating the workspace 405 and its use of IHS resources madeavailable via the remote access controller 410. In some embodiments, thetoken provided to the workspace 405 may be calculated by theorchestration service 420 based on the unique identifier of theworkspace, thus binding the token for use by that particular workspacesuch that any attempts to utilize the token by other workspaces aredetectable.

As indicated at 455 of FIG. 4 and at 545 of FIG. 5, the workspaceorchestration service 420 also provides the workspace 405 with the listof IHS resources that have been made available by the remote accesscontroller 410 for use by workspaces. At 550, the workspace 405 mayevaluate the list of available IHS resources against its workspacedefinition in order to determine the available IHS resources that arecompatible with the operating constraints specified by the workspacedefinition. For instance, a required minimum security score associatedwith a workspace definition may prohibit the use of certain IHSresources. At 460, the workspace 405 selects from the list of availableIHS resources based on compatibility with the workspace definition inorder to gain access to IHS capabilities that are not otherwiseavailable to workspace 405. At 465 of FIG. 4 and at 555 of FIG. 5, theworkspace 405 notifies the workspace orchestration service 420 of itsselection from the list of IHS resources that has been made available bythe remote access controller 420 of the IHS.

In response to the selection of an IHS resource by workspace 405, at 560and as indicated at 470, the workspace orchestration service 420provides the remote access controller 410 with a handle to the requestedIHS resource, where this handle specifies the IHS resource to beprovided, a mechanism for invoking the IHS resource and any constraintsthat may limit the duration of the workspaces' use of the IHS resource.At 565 and as indicated at 475, this same handle may be provided by theworkspace orchestration service 420 to the workspace 405 that hasrequested access to the local IHS resource. In some embodiments, thehandle provided by the workspace orchestration service 420 may specifyvarious aspects of the local IHS resource that is being made availableto the workspace 405 by the remote access controller 410. In addition toidentifying the resource, the handle may also specify an API(Application Programming Interface) that is to be supported by theremote access controller 410 for use by the workspace 405 in invokingthe IHS resource. The API included in the handle may specifies as a listof methods that are supported by the remote access controller 410, wherethe specified methods may be identified by a signature that specifiesmethod arguments that must be supplied by the workspace 405 andresponses that will be provided by the remote access controller 410. Forinstance, if the local resource that is selected is use of ACPI powermanagement functions, the API specified in the handle may list a set ofmethod signatures that are supported by the remote access controller 410in providing ACPI functionality to workspace 405.

In providing a means by which the API included in the handle may beinvoked, the handle may also include a reference to an IPC(Inter-Process Communications) resource of the IHS that is to be used inthe API communications between the remote access controller 410 and theworkspace 405. For instance, the handle may include a pointer to amemory location or data buffer that is to be used in the transmission ofdata between the remote access controller 410 and the workspace 405. Inother instances, the handle may include a reference identifying a socketor pipe by which data maybe transmitted by a workspace 405 to the remoteaccess controller 410 and by which responsive data resulting fromexecution of an API call may be provided to the workspace 405 by theremote access controller 410.

In addition to specifying the API that is supported and a reference toan IPC resource of the IHS, the handle provided by the workspaceorchestration service 420 may also include a token that may be used tospecify constraints on the duration of the validity of the handle. Insome embodiments, the token included in a handle may be generated basedon the token provided to the remote access controller 410, which may bebased on a unique identifier of the IHS, and may also be generated basedon the token provided to the workspace 405, which may be based on aunique identifier of the workspace. In this manner, the token includedin the handle may be bound to the IHS and to the workspace 405 such thatuse of the handle on another IHS or by another workspace is detectable.

In some instances, a token specified in a handle may be valid for theduration of the lifespan of the workspace 405. Accordingly, in suchinstances, no limitations or conditions on the token are specified inthe handle. However, in other instances, the validity of a token may belimited according to various conditions specified in the handle. In suchinstances, the token included in the handle is thus a session token witha limited term of validity. For example, conditions set forth in thehandle may specify that the session token is only valid until a certaintime. As described with regard to FIG. 1, an IHS according toembodiments may include sensors capable of determining whether a user isin proximity to the IHS. In some instances, conditions set forth in thehandle may specify that a session token becomes invalid upon detectingthat the user of the IHS can no longer be detected in proximity to theIHS. In another example where the IHS is a laptop computer, theconditions set forth in the handle may specify that the session token isonly valid until the lid of the laptop is closed. In another example,the conditions set forth in the handle may specify that the sessiontoken becomes invalid if the IHS is moved to a different location, or ismoved outside of a specific location.

As describe above, a workspace definition may be associated with asecurity score that is measure based on the security context in whichthe workspace is deployed. In some embodiments, a session tokenspecified in a handle may be limited based on conditions requiring aminimum security score in order for the token to remain valid. In suchembodiments, the workspace management agent 415 may monitor for changesin the security context of the workspace 405. Examples of detectedchanges in the security context may include a change in the antivirussoftware in use by the IHS, a change in the network access point used bythe IHS, a change in the location of the IHS from a corporateenvironment to a public location, and/or a change of the individual thatis using the IHS. Upon detecting such changes in the security context, anew security score may be calculated for the workspace. If the securityscore drops below a certain threshold, a session token included in ahandle may become invalid.

With the remote access controller 410 and the workspace 405 bothprovided with the handle generated by the workspace orchestrationservice 420, the workspace 405 may commence use of the selected IHSresource by using the handle to issue commands to the selected IHSresource. Using the provided handle, at 570, the workspace 405 generatesa command that invokes the selected resource of the IHS by generating anAPI call that is specified in the handle. In some embodiments, these APIcalls may be generated by a local resource service 335A-N, as describedwith regard to FIG. 3B, of the workspace 405 that may be configured tomanaged operations for requesting and managing use of a local resourceon behalf of the workspace 405. At 575 and as indicated at 480 of FIG.4, the workspace 405 transmits the API call to the remote accesscontroller 410 using the IPC resource that is included in the handle forcommunications between the remote access controller 410 and theworkspace 405. At 580, the API call issued via the IPC resourcespecified in the handle is received by the remote access controller 410.As described with regard to FIG. 3B, remote access controller 410 mayinclude a secure communication support module 350 that is configured tomanage communications with workspaces. In particular, this securecommunication support module may manage communications with individualworkspaces via an IPC resource specified in a handle provided by theworkspace orchestration service for communications with that particularworkspace.

Upon receipt of an API call from a workspace via the IPC resource, theremote access controller 410 processes the API call on behalf of theworkspace. For instance, if a handle provides a workspace 405 withaccess to ACPI resources of an IHS, an API call received according tothat handle is processed by the remote access controller 410 by invokingthe corresponding ACPI method of the IHS that may be supported by theBIOS of the IHS, or by the remote access controller 410 itself. Inanother example, if the API call is received via an IPC resourcecorresponding to a handle that provides workspace 405 with use of threadmanagement functions supported by an IHS, the data received by theremote access controller 410 via the IPC resource is used to performthread management functions on behalf of the workspace. Once theoperation invoked on behalf of the workspace 405 has been completed, at585 and as indicated at 485 of FIG. 4, the remote access controller 410utilizes the IPC resource provided in the handle to provide theworkspace 405 with a responsive communication specified by the API callmade by the workspace. For instance, if an ACPI method requesting thecurrent power state of the IHS has been invoked by the API call receivedfrom the workspace 405, the response by the remote access controller 410relays the current power state back to the workspace via the IPCresource specified in the handle.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a cache database 362and an associated cache database management interface 364 may beprovided for storing information used by the workspaces 331A-N. Thecache database 362 may be used to store files or digital content commonto some, most, or all of the workspaces 331A-N. For example, the cachedatabase 362 may be used to store executable files, such as dynamiclinked library (DLL) files, application files, or other files includingexecutable code that may be shared among certain workspaces 331A-N. Asanother example, the cache database 362 may be used to store audioand/or video content that is generated by a first workspace and consumedby a second workspace seamlessly.

Cache database management interface 364 provides an interface for securecommunication with the workspace orchestration service 206, and mayinclude logic for implementing certain features of the cache database362. In one embodiment, cache database management interface 364 mayimplement a cloud caching system where commonly accessed cloud sourcedfiles may be cached to alleviate communication traffic that wouldotherwise be required each time a workspace 331A-N requires access tocontent from a cloud-based source. In another embodiment, cache databasemanagement interface 364 may implement a user context discovery systemfor providing contextual continuity for custom workspaces instantiatedon different environments based on each user's personal profile. Methodsfor providing the cloud caching system and user context discovery systemwill each be described in detail herein below. In one embodiment, cachedatabase 362 and cache database management interface 364 may beconfigured inside of a workspace 331A-N so that it can be securelymanaged by workspace orchestration service 206.

According to one embodiment, a network tunneling service 366 may beprovided to enable secure communications between the workspaces 331A-Nand workspace orchestration service 206. The network tunneling service366 may configure secure network communication links between certainservices of the workspace orchestration service 206 and the workspaces331A-N. In one embodiment, the network tunneling service 366 may, uponinstantiation of a workspace 331A-N, communicate with its associatedlocal resource service 355A to establish a secure communications tunnel,such as an HTTPS connection, a virtual private network (VPN) connection,or one established according to a suitable communications protocol(e.g., a secure shell (SSH) tunneling protocol, a generic routingencapsulation (GRE) tunneling protocol, an IPSec tunneling protocol,etc.).

According to one embodiment, a BIOS interface agent 368 may be providedin BIOS of IHS 100. In general, BIOS interface agent 368 provides adirect interface for communication between the BIOS 135 along with anyassociated embedded controllers, and the workspace orchestration service206. In many currently produced IHSs, the BIOS often includes a SMBIOSinterface that can be used to read management information produced bythe BIOS 135 of an IHS 100. This feature can eliminate the need for theoperating system to probe hardware directly to discover what devices arepresent in the computer. As such, the BIOS interface agent 368 provide atechnique to access characteristics of hardware devices configured inthe IHS 100 as well as to manipulate or otherwise modify those hardwareresources. In one embodiment, a secure network connection may beestablished between the BIOS interface agent 368 and workspaceorchestration service 206 using the network tunneling service 366.

FIG. 6 is a workflow diagram describing certain steps of one embodimentof a cloud caching method 600 using the cache database 362 according toone embodiment of the present disclosure. As will be described in detailherein below, the cloud caching method 600 may be provided for improvingand optimizing the resource usage of workspace applications by contentcaching among multiple, participating containers. Using the cloudcaching method 600, the performance of the workspace applications can beeffectively optimized without any substantial modifications to theworkspace applications and/or the resources used to executed thecontainerized applications.

In conventional client environments that do not necessarily involveworkspaces, different applications can use the same set of filesseamlessly. In some cases, if the files are stored in the cloud (e.g.,network), those files are often retrieved and cached by the OS and usedcommonly by different applications. For example, a video-editorapplication and a video-player application configured outside of aworkspace often use the same local file or the same cached file from afile hosting and synchronization service (e.g., Microsoft OneDrive). Ifthese same applications, however, are configured in separate workspaceenvironments, each workspace will need to retrieve and cache these filesfrom the cloud. That is, the video-editor in one workspace and the videoplayer in another workspace will both cache and synchronize the videofile. This situation leads to obvious inefficiencies, such as increasednetwork traffic, increased resource (e.g., CPU, storage, etc.) usage; aproblem that does not exist with conventional environments notimplemented with workspaces. Additionally, certain executable files,such as runtime components or libraries, and the like, used with eachworkspace application needs to be handled inside of each workspace, thusyielding a cumbersome affair.

Many scenarios exist where inefficiencies can occur due to the inabilityto share cloud resources between containers. One example scenarioinvolves a user who is editing a report within a workspace in which theapplication used periodically requires specific systems files tooperate. From a separate workspace, a service is providing routinemaintenance, and updating system files needed by the first application.In such a scenario, the edited report is not able to access the newlyupdated system files because each of the workspaces are isolated fromone another.

Another example scenario involves the user who is editing video contentin a first workspace, which is periodically accessing or storing videocontent from a remote location, while a separate local system connectedto a larger screen is being used for video playback. The local system isrunning the playback software in a workspace. The user wishes to performreal-time editing on one device and seamless playback on the seconddevice but cannot because the video content cannot be stored in a commonlocation where it can be accessed by both workspaces. Yet anotherexample scenario involves multiple users who are working remotely usinginstances of the same CAD tool running in separate workspaces. Atvarious intervals, the CAD workspace instances request access to thesame design files from a remote shared location. But this would bedifficult to provide since no shared location exists between each of theseparate workspaces.

Thus, it can be clearly seen that, while workspaces may providerelatively good isolation from other workspaces in a IHS environment,the isolation may yield certain unintended consequences when neededfiles cannot be shared among each of the workspaces. Embodiments of thepresent disclosure, and in particular the cloud caching method 600 ofFIG. 6 may provide a solution to these problems, among others, in whichcommonly used cloud assets may be shared among multiple workspaces in anIHS.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the cloud caching method 600 involvestunneling service 366, a workspace 331 configured with a local resourceservice 355 and an application 601, a cache database managementinterface 364, and a cache database 362. Only one workspace 331 is shownand described herein for purposes of brevity and clarity of discussion;nevertheless, it should be appreciated that the cloud caching method 600may be performed with any quantity and configuration of workspaces 331.Additionally, while the workspace 331 is shown configured with a singleapplication 601, it should be appreciated that the workspace 331 mayhave any quantities of applications 602 that use the cloud cachingmethod 600 to access and use locally cached cloud-based files accordingto the teachings of the present disclosure.

Additionally, while the cache database management interface 364, andcache database 362 are shown configured external to any workspace, inother embodiments, the cache database management interface 364, andcache database 362 may be configured inside of a dedicated workspace 331that communicates with the local resource service 355 and application601 via the tunneling service 366.

Steps 602-610 generally describe an initialization sequence that may beperformed each time the IHS 100 is initialized (e.g., bootstrapped), andbefore any cloud-based caching occurs. Initially at step 602, the cachedatabase management interface 364 is launched (e.g., started). Whenlaunched, the cache database management interface 364 may load certainrules or policies as to how cloud-based files may be cached. At somepoint in time after the cache database management interface 364 islaunched, the workspace 331 is instantiated on the IHS 100 at step 604along with its associated local resource service 355 and application601. Shortly thereafter, the local resource service 355 transmits arequest to the application 601 to obtain application information, suchas its configuration settings and other system files (e.g., DLL files,etc.) used for its execution. Thereafter at step 606, the application601 responds with the requested information. At step 608, the localresource service 355 transmits the obtained application information tothe cache database management interface 364. The cache databasemanagement interface 364 uses the obtained application information, andthe loaded rules and policies to generate additional policies regardinghow cloud-based files are to be cached. Additionally, at step 610, thelocal resource service 355 configures certain intercept or trap points(e.g., system calls) for intercepting requests from the application 601to access cloud-based files from the cloud source 604 based upon thereceived application information. At this point, the cloud cachingmethod 600 has been initialized and is ready to begin cachingcloud-based files for use by any participating workspaces instantiatedon the IHS 100.

Steps 612-628 generally describe a sequence of actions that areperformed for each request for a cloud-based file by the application601. At step 612, the application 601 issues a request for a certaincloud-based file, which is forwarded, by the local resource service 355,to the cache database management interface 364 at step 614. The cachedatabase management interface 364 issues a request for the cloud-basedfile stored locally in the cache database 362 if it exists at step 616,and receives the requested file at step 618. If the cloud-based file,however, is not persistent in the cache database 362, it issues arequest for the file from the cloud source (e.g., Internet) at step 620,and receives the requested file at step 622.

At step 624, if the cloud-based file has been obtained from the cloudsource 604, it may be stored persistently in cache database 362according to one or more rules or policies determined earlier at step610. For example, if the cloud-based file does not currently exist incache database 362, and the cache database 362 does not have sufficientcapacity to store the cloud-based file, the cache database managementinterface 364 may delete certain other persistently stored cloud-basedfiles to make room for the requested cloud-based file based upon therules or policies. If the cloud-based file is eventually stored in thecache database 362, it is considered to be a ‘cache hit’ condition.Otherwise, if the cloud-based file is not eventually stored in the cachedatabase 362, it is considered to be a ‘cache miss’ condition.

Furthermore, if the requested cloud-based file results in a cache hitcondition, certain create, read, update, delete (CRUD) operations may beperformed on the cloud-based file persisted in cache database 362. If,however, the requested cloud-based file results in a cache misscondition, the resulting CRUD operations may be relayed to the cloudsource 604. For example, the requested cloud-based file may incur acache miss condition when the requested cloud-based file is an obsolete(e.g., deprecated) version, and as such, the cloud source 604 may benotified so that an updated version of the cloud-based file may be madeavailable for access in the future.

At step 626, the cache database management interface 364 forwards therequested cloud-based file or a link to the requested file to the localresource service 355 along with information associated with whether itincurred a cache hit or a cache miss condition. The local resourceservice 355, in turn, forwards the requested cloud-based file or link tothe requested file to the application 601 at step 628.

Steps 630-634 generally describe a sequence of actions that may beperformed each time a cloud-based file is deleted from the cachedatabase 362. For example, steps 630-634 may be performed during step624 when a certain cloud-based file is to be deleted to make room foranother requested cloud-based file.

At step 630, the cache database management interface 364 issues apre-delete notify request message to the local resource service 355.Essentially, the pre-delete notify request message is generated by thecache database management interface 364 to obtain permission, from thelocal resource service 355, for deleting the cloud-based file from thecache database 362. Certain condition exist whereby deletion of acloud-based file from the cache database 362 would not be beneficial.For example, if the application 601 is still using the cloud-based file(e.g., active file reference), deletion of the cloud-based file wouldnot be warranted.

Nevertheless at step 632, the local resource service 355 responds to thepre-delete notify request message with either a pass response (e.g., noactive file reference exists), or a fail response (e.g., an active filereference does exist). Thereafter at step 634, the cache databasemanagement interface 364 either deletes the cloud-based file from cachedatabase 362 if a pass response is received, and does not delete thecloud-based file from cache database 362 if a fail response is received.

The cloud caching method 600 described above may be repeatedly performedfor each workspace 331 having an application 601 that obtainscloud-based content from a cloud source 604. Nevertheless, when use ofthe cloud caching method 600 is no longer needed or desired, the processends.

Although FIG. 6 describes an example method that may be performed forselectively caching cloud-based content for each of multiple workspaces331 configured on an IHS 100, the features of the method 600 may beembodied in other specific forms without deviating from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure. For example, the method 600 may performadditional, fewer, or different operations than those described in thepresent examples. As another example, the steps of the method 600 may beperformed by a computing system other than the IHS 100, such as via acloud service as described above.

FIG. 7 is a workflow diagram describing certain steps of an example usercontext discovery method 700 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. As will be described in detail herein below, the usercontext discovery method 700 may be provided for providing contextualcontinuity for custom workspaces instantiated on different environmentsbased on each user's personal profile. Moreover, the cache databasemanagement interface 364 provides a repository for storing andadministering the particular configuration settings of each user'scustom workspace so that a consistent workspace environment may begenerated for each user regardless of the underlying IHS used and/or thegeographical location in which the IHS is used.

Within this disclosure, a custom workspace generally refers to a type ofworkspace that is configured according to a particular user, or aselected group of users. For example, a custom workspace may beconfigured with certain applications that are in turn each configuredwith certain settings to suit a particular user's IHS usage habits. Thecustom workspace may also be configured for a certain group ofindividuals, such as those of an accounting department of a particularenterprise who may use certain applications dedicated for use by itsmembers.

In connected workspace scenarios (e.g., multi-tenant offices) and othermodern client use cases, a better user experience can often be tied toeasing time required to replicate a workspace's context (e.g., theconfiguration and settings of a user's workspace environment). As such,it would be beneficial for modern clients to bring work continuityacross different IHS devices as well as its geographical location withthe help of workspaces. For example, when a user logs into an IHS, basedon the user's profile, that user's (containerized) business applicationsshould be accessed from a suitable repository and loaded. For betteruser experience and security, the host OS should discover and manage theresources appropriately based on requirements set by the user'sparticular applications.

For example, in a multi-tenant office (e.g., Connected Workplace 2.0),an end user, such as a program manager, logs into a remote IHS at atemporary, remote location. In such a case, it would be beneficial thatsome, most, or all of the end user's applications (e.g., MPP, Acrobat,word processor, etc.) are loaded with that end user's environmentalsettings. Additionally, to enhance the user experience, the workspaceshould ideally discover resources (e.g., printers, WiFi hotspots, theuser's personal devices, such as a human interface device, a headset; awebcam, a mouse, a keyboard, a graphics tablet, an image scanner, abarcode reader, a stylus, a camera, a webcam, a game pad, a memory unit,a monitor, a projector, a printer, a microphone, headphones, and aloudspeaker etc.) proximate to the IHS and configure the workspaceaccordingly. For example, a user's Bluetooth headset should bediscovered and paired with the workspace. For another example, a dockingstation, a display, and/or other connected peripherals should beautomatically configured for use with the workspace. For securitypurposes, unused communication devices (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, nearfiled communications (NFC), presence detection devices, cellularcommunication devices, etc.) should be disabled. The system should alsodiscover proximate assets, such as a close network printer toauto-populate into a printers list, which is then automatically set upfor use with the workspace.

Conventionally, when a user initially uses an IHS for the first time,the afore-described tasks often require manual intervention, thusyielding a less attractive user experience. It may be important to notethat the example scenario described above may represent a continuallygrowing set of use cases that include gig workers, who may changesystems more frequently on an on-going basis, and remote workers (e.g.,individuals working from home who may require user of an IHS on-premisefor temporary, secondary, or emergency use. Lowering the trouble forsuch users has therefore become a strategic goal for the inventors ofthis case. Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a solutionto these problems, among others, by providing contextual continuity forworkspaces instantiated on different IHS environments based on eachuser's personal profile.

Referring again to FIG. 7, the user context discovery method 700involves a cache database management interface 364, a local resourceservice 355, and a BIOS interface agent 368. The cache databasemanagement interface 364 may include at least part of or be integral tothe cache database 362 as described above with reference to FIG. 3. Forexample, the cache database management interface 364 may include acaching service agent that communicates with the local resource service355 and BIOS interface agent 368 to perform the various featuresdescribed herein. Additionally, the cache database management interface364 may also include a cache database for storing information (e.g.,global user ID, rules, policies, configuration settings of applications,etc.) with regard to how workspaces are allocated for use by eachparticipating user of the IHS 100.

Initially at step 720, the cache database management interface 364receives user input for instantiating a custom workspace on the IHS 100.For example, the cache database management interface 364 may receive aglobal user ID of that particular user that is associated with anaccount previously established by the cache database managementinterface 364 or other suitable service on the IHS 100. In oneembodiment, the account information may be stored locally in the cachedatabase of the cache database management interface 364. In otherembodiments, the account information may be stored within the workspace331 and accessed when that workspace 331 is instantiated by the IHS 100.

At step 722, the cache database management interface 364 transmits arequest to the local resource service 355 to obtain context informationabout the custom workspace from the local resource service 355. Thelocal resource service 355 in turn, sends a response to the cachedatabase management interface 364 that includes the requestedinformation at step 724. At step 726, the cache database managementinterface 364 transmits a request to the BIOS interface agent 368 toobtain a global machine ID of the IHS 100 on which the custom workspaceis to be instantiated. The BIOS interface agent 368 in turn, sends aresponse to the cache database management interface 364 that includesthe requested information at step 728. For example, the cache databaseof the cache database management interface 364 may store configurationinformation for the IHS 100 that has been previously obtained from theBIOS interface agent 368 at an earlier point in time so that it may beaccessed based upon the global machine ID. The configuration informationmay include any information about the IHS 100, such as type ofprocessor, quantity of processor cores, memory size, memory type,peripheral information, and the like.

At step 730, the cache database management interface 364 computes one ormore rules or policies for the custom workspace based on the receivedglobal user ID and the global machine ID. For example, the cachedatabase management interface 364 may determine, using informationstored in the cache database of the cache database management interface364, that the user is limited to using certain resources of the IHS 100,and is inhibited from using certain other resources. As another example,the cache database management interface 364 may determine that the userhas a Bluetooth headset and thus the cache database management interface364 may obtain passcode information stored in the cache database neededfor pairing the Bluetooth headset with the custom workspace. As yetanother example, the cache database management interface 364 maydetermine that a CAD application included in the custom workspace is tobe configured with those drivers used to handle certain types of CADfiles that are to be manipulated by the user. As yet another example,the cache database management interface 364 may determine that the userwill require a local printer having certain capabilities (e.g.,color/black-and-white, minimum DPI, sheet size, etc.), and develop rulesand policies for the custom workspace such that a suitable local printermay be identified and configured for use with the custom workspace.

At step 732, the cache database management interface 364 derivesspecific resource configuration directives based upon the rules andpolicies computed at step 730. For example, if one policy is directed toturning off certain communication ports, the cache database managementinterface 364 may generate one or more directives for turning thosecommunication ports off. As another example, if a certain rule or policyis associated with a Bluetooth connection, the cache database managementinterface 364 may generate one or more directives for the Bluetooth portof the IHS 100 to established a paired Bluetooth connection. Thereafterat step 734, the cache database management interface 364 applies thedirectives to the custom workspace. Also at step 736, the cache databasemanagement interface 364 shares (e.g., transmits) those directives thatmay be associated with certain hardware resources (e.g., communicationports, docking station, display device(s), peripherals, etc.), which aremanaged by EC/BIOS to the BIOS interface agent 368. For example, if onedirective is to turn a certain communication port off, the cachedatabase management interface 364 may transmit a message to the BIOSinterface agent 368 instructing the EC/BIOS to have that communicationport disabled. Then at step 738, the BIOS implements the directivesreceived from the cache database management interface 364.

At this point, the custom workspace has been instantiated, andcustomized according to the user's account information. In oneembodiment, the cache database management interface may generatefree-form information that is presented to the user via, for example, adisplay of the IHS 100 indicating how the custom workspace wasinstantiated. For example, the free-form information may includeinformation about certain features that were not able to be implementedon the custom workspace, such as allocating four processor cores to thecustom workspace where the underlying IHS 100 only has two processorcores available for use. For another example, the free-form informationmay include a map indicating where a configured printer is located at,and certain limitations to its use (e.g., maximum 50 sheets/day, lettersized paper only, etc.) that should be followed by the user.

During usage of the custom workspace by the user, the configuration ofthe custom workspace may change for various reasons. For example, thecustom workspace may change if applications are added, modified, ordeleted, certain system parameters (e.g., go to sleep times, AC power/DCpower, etc.) are changed, user preferences (e.g., background image, webbrowser configuration, speaker volume, etc.) change, and so on. As such,the cache database management interface 364 may detect these changes atstep 740, and update the rules and policies of the user account at step742 such that those changes will be implemented in future instantiationsof the custom workspace.

The user context discovery method 700 described above may be performedeach time the custom workspace 331 is instantiated on an IHS 100.Nevertheless, when use of the user context discovery method 700 is nolonger needed or desired, the process ends.

Although FIG. 7 describes an example method that may be performed forgenerating custom workspaces based upon a user and a computingenvironment provided by an IHS that supports the custom workspace, thefeatures of the user context discovery method 700 may be embodied inother specific forms without deviating from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. For example, the method 700 may perform additional,fewer, or different operations than those described in the presentexamples. As another example, the steps of the method 700 may beperformed by a computing system other than the IHS 102, such as via acloud service as described above.

It should be understood that various operations described herein may beimplemented in software executed by processing circuitry, hardware, or acombination thereof. The order in which each operation of a given methodis performed may be changed, and various operations may be added,reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc. It is intended that theinvention(s) described herein embrace all such modifications and changesand, accordingly, the above description should be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

The terms “tangible” and “non-transitory,” as used herein, are intendedto describe a computer-readable storage medium (or “memory”) excludingpropagating electromagnetic signals; but are not intended to otherwiselimit the type of physical computer-readable storage device that isencompassed by the phrase computer-readable medium or memory. Forinstance, the terms “non-transitory computer readable medium” or“tangible memory” are intended to encompass types of storage devicesthat do not necessarily store information permanently, including, forexample, RAM. Program instructions and data stored on a tangiblecomputer-accessible storage medium in non-transitory form may afterwardsbe transmitted by transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, which may be conveyed via acommunication medium such as a network and/or a wireless link.

Although the invention(s) is/are described herein with reference tospecific embodiments, various modifications and changes can be madewithout departing from the scope of the present invention(s), as setforth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figuresare to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense,and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scopeof the present invention(s). Any benefits, advantages, or solutions toproblems that are described herein with regard to specific embodimentsare not intended to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeature or element of any or all the claims.

Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used toarbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus,these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or otherprioritization of such elements. The terms “coupled” or “operablycoupled” are defined as connected, although not necessarily directly,and not necessarily mechanically. The terms “a” and “an” are defined asone or more unless stated otherwise. The terms “comprise” (and any formof comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any formof have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form ofinclude, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any formof contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linkingverbs. As a result, a system, device, or apparatus that “comprises,”“has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more elements possesses those oneor more elements but is not limited to possessing only those one or moreelements. Similarly, a method or process that “comprises,” “has,”“includes” or “contains” one or more operations possesses those one ormore operations but is not limited to possessing only those one or moreoperations.

1. A workspace orchestration system comprising: an Information Handling System (IHS) comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause the first IHS to: instantiate a first workspace comprising a cache database and a first interface configured to communicate with a second interface configured in a second workspace administered by the workspace orchestration system, the cache database accessed by the second workspace using the first interface.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein first interface is further executed to: receive a request for a file stored on a cloud source from the second workspace; when the file does not exist in the cache database, forward the request to a cloud source; and store the requested file in the cache database.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first interface is further executed to: when insufficient capacity exists for storage of the file in the cache database, identify one or more previously stored files having a lowest priority that consume a sufficient storage space for the requested file; and delete the previously stored files having the lowest priority.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions comprise a machine learning (ML) process that is executed to determine the priority of the requested file and the previously stored files.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein the priority of the requested file and the previously stored files are determined according to one or more policies of the cache database.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executed to: upon a request to instantiate a custom workspace on the IHS, receive a user identity of a user, the custom workspace comprising the second workspace; obtain, from the cache database, one or more policies associated with the user, the policies identifying one or more applications to be implemented in the custom workspace, application settings to be applied to each of the applications, or workspace settings to be applied to the custom workspace; and instantiate the custom workspace using the obtained policies.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the program instructions are further executed to: receive a machine identity of the IHS; and determine the one or more policies according to the machine identify of the IHS.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the program instructions are further executed to: discover a peripheral device nearby to the IHS according to the one or more policies; and configure the peripheral device for operation with the custom workspace.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the peripheral device comprises at least one of a printer, a human interface device; a headset, a webcam, a mouse, a keyboard, a graphics tablet, an image scanner, a barcode reader, a stylus, a camera, a webcam, a game pad, a memory unit, a monitor, a projector, a printer, a microphone, headphones, and a loudspeaker, and a personal Bluetooth device.
 10. The system of claim 6, wherein the program instructions are further executed to: discover one or more unused communication devices configured on the custom workspace according to the policies; and disable the unused communication devices.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executed to: discover a change to the custom workspace during operation of the custom workspace; and update the policies in the cache database.
 12. A method comprising: instantiating, using instructions stored in at least one memory coupled to at least one processor, a first workspace comprising a cache database and a first interface configured to communicate with a second interface configured in a second workspace administered by a workspace orchestration system, the cache database accessed by the second workspace using the first interface.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving, by the first interface, a request for a file stored on a cloud source from the second workspace; when the file does not exist in the cache database, forwarding the request to a cloud source; and storing the requested file in the cache database.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: when insufficient capacity exists for storage of the file in the cache database, identifying, using the first interface, one or more previously stored files having a lowest priority that consume a sufficient storage space for the requested file; and deleting the previously stored files having the lowest priority.
 15. The method of claim 12, further comprising: upon a request to instantiate a custom workspace on the IHS, receiving a user identity of a user, the custom workspace comprising the second workspace; obtaining, from the cache database, one or more policies associated with the user, the policies identifying one or more applications to be implemented in the custom workspace, application settings to be applied to each of the applications, or workspace settings to be applied to the custom workspace; and instantiating the custom workspace using the obtained policies.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving a machine identity of the IHS; and determining the one or more policies according to the machine identify of the IHS.
 17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: discovering a peripheral device nearby to the IHS according to the one or more policies; and configuring the peripheral device for operation with the custom workspace.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the peripheral device comprises at least one of a printer, a human interface device, a headset, a webcam, a mouse, a keyboard, a graphics tablet, an image scanner, a barcode reader, a stylus, a camera, a webcam, a game pad, a memory unit, a monitor, a projector, a printer, a microphone, headphones, and a loudspeaker, and a personal Bluetooth device.
 19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: discovering one or more unused communication devices configured on the custom workspace according to the policies; and disabling the unused communication devices.
 20. The method of claim 12, further comprising: discovering a change to the custom workspace during operation of the custom workspace; and updating the policies in the cache database. 